Govt to mull demand for more funds: Ramadoss

Dissatisfied with a 20 per cent increase in allocation for health in the Budget, Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss has asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for more.

The prime minister is to call a meeting of health and finance ministries and the Planning Commission to sort out the issue soon after the current session of Parliament.

An additional allocation of at least Rs 3,000 crore for the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) is expected, according to Ramadoss.

"The prime minister and the finance minister have promised us that in the revised estimates, they will give whatever we want. My secretary and I met the prime minister three days ago to seek more funds for the health sector. We said that at least for the NRHM we want the amount we had sought. We had asked for about Rs 15,000 crore and were sanctioned about Rs 12,000 crore," Ramadoss told Business Standard.

The minister said health was a priority for the UPA government. "The health allocations were reduced due to increased fund allocations to food, oil and farming sectors. However, the shortfalls will be addressed in the revised estimates", he added.

Ramadoss indicated that the prime minister had asked him to go ahead with the National Urban Health Mission (NUHM).

"A token amount of Rs 50 crore has been allotted in the Budget. We have been asked to go ahead with the planning for the programme. The funds for the NUHM are expected to be included in the revised estimates. It may take another four to five months before we can roll out the NUHM", he said.

The budgetary allocation for the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for 2008-09 is Rs 18,123 crore, 21 per cent more than the 2007-08's allocation of Rs 14,974.34 crore.